A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed October 23 for hearing in a suit filed by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, challenging the order obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for final forfeiture of her seized assets.
Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed the date yesterday after Alison-Madueke’s lawyer, Benson Igbanoi, and EFCC’s counsel, M. D. Baraya, regularised their processes in the suit.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the anti-corruption agency had planned to conduct public sale of all the assets seized for being proceeds of crime, as ordered by courts, to be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government
The auctioning, conducted on the seized assets believed to include Diezani’s property, started on January 9.
Immediate past EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa recently said $153 million and over 80 properties had been recovered from Alison-Madueke.
The former minister was alleged to have escaped to the United Kingdom (UK) and remained there after her exit from office, which she occupied between 2010 and 2015 under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
But the ex-minister, in her suit, sought an order extending the time within which to seek leave to apply to the court for an order to set aside the EFCC’s public notice issued to conduct public sale on her property.
In the motion, dated and filed on January 6 by her lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), the former minister sought five orders from the court.
While Alison-Madueke is the applicant, the EFCC is the sole respondent in the suit.
The former minister, who argued that the various orders were made without jurisdiction, said these “ought to be set aside ex debito justitia” (of or by reason of an obligation of justice: as a matter of right).
Alison-Madueke said she was not given fair hearing in all the proceedings leading to the orders.
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“The various court orders issued in favour of the respondent and upon which the respondent issued the public notice were issued in breach of the applicant’s right to fair hearing as guaranteed by Section 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, as altered, and other similar constitutional provisions,” she said.
According to her, she was neither served with the charge sheet and proof of evidence in any of the charge nor any other summons howsoever and whatsoever in respect of the criminal charges pending against her before the court.
The former minister also argued that the courts were misled into making several of the final forfeiture orders against her assets through suppression or non-disclosure of material facts.
“The several applications upon which the courts made the final order of forfeiture against the applicant were obtained upon gross misstatements, misrepresentations, non-disclosure, concealment and suppression of material facts and this honourable court has the power to set aside same ex debito justitiae, as a void order is as good as if it was never made at all.
“The orders were made without recourse to the constitutional right to fair hearing and right to property accorded the applicant by the constitution.
“The applicant was never served with the processes of court in all the proceedings that led to the order of final forfeiture,” she said, among other grounds given.
But the EFCC, in a counter-affidavit deposed to by one of its detectives, Rufai Zaki, urged the court to dismiss her application.
Zaki, who was a member of the team that investigated a case of criminal conspiracy, official corruption and money laundering against the ex-minister and some other persons involved in the case, said investigation had clearly shown that she was involved in some acts of criminality.
The EFCC investigator said Alison-Madueke was therefore charged before the court in charge no: FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018.
“We hereby rely on the charge FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018, dated November 14, 2018, filed before this honourable court and also attached as Exhibit C in the applicant’s affidavit,” he said.
The EFCC operative, who said he had seen the ex-minister’s motion, said most of the depositions were untrue.
He said contrary to her deposition in the affidavit in support, most of the cases, which led to the final forfeiture of the contested property “were action in rem, same were heard at various times and determined by this honourable court”.
Zaki said the courts differently ordered the commission to do a newspaper publication inviting parties to show cause why the said property should not be forfeited to the Federal Government, before final orders were made.
The EFCC operative argued that a man, Nnamdi Awa Kalu, represented the ex-minister in reaction to one of the forfeiture applications.
“We humbly rely on the judgment of Justice I. L. N. Oweibo, dated September 10, 2019, shown in Exhibit C of the applicant’s affidavit,” he said.
He said contrary to her, the final forfeiture of the assets, which were subject of the present application, was ordered by the court since 2017 and that this was not set aside or upturned on appeal.
According to him, the properties have been disposed of through due process of law.
